Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Hardcore Henry

***DISCLAIMER***
The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I
encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion
(or other commenters),
that's fine. To each their own. These reviews
are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just
sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is
not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the
reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being
unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay.
4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews
feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on
Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional
live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching! This movie is waaayyyy different than the spin-off Softcore Sam.

Hardcore Henry – 3 out of 5

I love action films and I really enjoy video games.While first person shooters might not be my
go-to games (I’m not really a Call of Duty type of dude) there are plenty in
this genre that I do enjoy.So, when
these two ideas came together to form Hardcore Henry I was endlessly
intrigued.Then, when I saw the R-brand
trailer, I was really interested.Well,
I finally sat down with this one-of-a-kind action film and, I have to say, I
wasn’t too into it.

Although, I do concede that some moments were really cool!

Good thing he married a cybernetics engineer...imagine if he married an accounted. He'd bedead.

A man named Henry (played by too many people to even begin
to list here) finds himself suddenly revived in a laboratory by a woman named
Estelle (Haley Bennett).She claims that
he is both her husband and a potential star of a new version of The Six Million
Dollar Man after he is rebuilt with cybernetic implants after an accident.After a warlord named Akan (Danila Kozlovsky)
invades the lab, Henry is thrown into a chaotic race against time as he has to
save his wife from the man and figure out what is happening to him.Along for the adventure is a mysterious man
named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley); he seems to have all the answers and is leading
Henry to something but he has the bad habit of constantly dying and coming back
as a different version of himself.

I was wondering when I would get to see Copley play a guy hopped up on coke while in some animal print undies. Finally!

The main selling point of Hardcore Henry is the fact it is
shot entirely in the first person, theoretically putting you directly in the
action.In reality, however, I found a
film that has some saving graces but is entirely bogged down but a product that
is too repetitive and ends up feeling like it’s all sizzle without the
steak.The moment the film starts it
feels like the intro of a video game and that’s actually a cool thing.Hell, there’s even a ton of references of
game tropes and game-based gags throughout the film that work and are genuinely
a neat addition.However, the biggest
problem is that video games are an active experience where you take control of
the character and, when the game is a first person shooter, you are essential
the main character and you are in control.You don’t get that with Hardcore Henry.

If only the screen started to glow red when Henry got hurt...

To boil it down, Hardcore Henry felt like a passive experience for
me as a viewer and, despite seeing everything through Henry’s eyes, I never
really felt like I was a participant.Granted, it’s a movie and there’s obvious limitations that prevent me
from feeling like I’m a part of the adventure but the first person gimmick is
meant to make you feel like you are going through the ordeal Henry is going
through but the fact that Henry is essentially a faceless cardboard cutout of a
character who gets no real development and has no meaningful arc made for a
film that felt empty and shallow.This
could have worked as a popcorn action
film but there were other problems that prevented it from hitting that mark.

"Hi, I'm Henry's dad; Tim Roth, this is the closest you'll see to any depthgiven to this character. Thanks!"

Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely some very cool
action moments in Hardcore Henry but these are bogged down tremendously by the
repetitive and formulaic approach the plot takes.The film follows a very obvious path during
its entire running length as we see Henry greeted by Jimmy, Jimmy delivers some
exposition (because Henry is mute, so all developments are lazily explained
directly to Henry and, essentially, the viewer), Jimmy then dies, chase scene
follows or action scene commences and repeat.This made the film very tedious and, even when I found myself saying,
“Wow, that part was really cool,” I discovered I couldn’t get fully invested in
what I was seeing because of its color-by-numbers approach and pattern.Not to mention that a lot of the fist fight
parts were kinda hard to watch as the first person perspective made things very
shaky and unfocused.

I will say this, though, this version of Jimmy was fantastic.Probably my favorite version.

I also had issues with the film’s antagonist Akan.I wasn’t too impressed with Danila
Kozlovsky’s performances and the character just wasn’t that interesting.However, despite these many set-backs,
Hardcore Henry does have some elements working heavily in its favor and I can’t
deny the marvel of filmmaking magic that it was.The sheer nightmare of logistics that came
from filming and editing this piece is really something to behold and warrants
a viewing for its technical wizardry alone.Additionally, the film provides some entertaining gags, has some
fantastic music that compliments the chase scenes and action moments and Sharlto
Copley’s character (characters?) steals the film.Hell, I was more interested in his backstory than I was in Henry’s past
or future.

Akan kinda looks like a boss you'd see in the Metal Gear series.

Hardcore Henry is notable for a major reason but that reason
also ends up just being a gimmick—and like most films made on a gimmick, the
rest of the product suffers.The film
isn’t too boring and didn’t feel like a waste of time but with its lack of
character development and due to its obvious formula, the film proved to be
less entertaining than I had hoped it would have been.It has its moments here and there that are
definitely fun and very badass to take in but, in its entirety, I found the
film to be kinda mediocre.

Follow by Email

Subscribe To

Translate

Find a film...

About Me

I'm a geek, an atheist (who is also an ordained reverend), a peanut butter and jelly enthusiast, a man who shares the same name with a popular character from "Parks & Rec" and feels he can't live up to the awesomeness of the fictional character, was proudly banned from Reddit, an occasional Shakespearean performer, and a stand up comic.
Have any questions, recommendations or wanna share any theories on various movies? Email me at RevRonMovies@gmail.com and I'll talk about them on my new Q&A segment!